A state-of-the art electronic tolling system that utilizes high-performance lidar sensors from Cepton and a cutting-edge vehicle identification solution from Red Fox ID is expected to be deployed on a major highway turnpike crossing multiple states in the United States, thereby promising fast, highly accurate, barrier-free, real-time tolling to enable smooth traffic flows. 

This marks the maturing of the deep partnership between Cepton and Red Fox ID in bringing innovative, automated tolling solutions to major customers across North America, EMEA and Asia.

Based on an extended collaboration with leading lidar solution provider Cepton, Red Fox ID – a leading designer and developer of vehicle identification and classification solutions - has developed a multi-lane, free flow tolling system called Quantum, which is able to accurately detect, track and classify vehicles of any size or type at highway speeds. 

Quantum uses Cepton’s Micro Motion Technology(MMT) based Sora-P60 or Sora-P90 lidar sensors for high-resolution vehicle profiling, to enable integrators and road operators to achieve highly accurate customer billing in real time, with free flow, barrier-free tolling.

For tolls to be charged correctly based on vehicle class, traditional tolling systems often use tollbooths for manual processing or depend on vehicle speed reduction infrastructure to allow for time to capture vehicle information. 

That can cause congestion, increased emissions and frustration amongst customers. More advanced systems that aim to enable faster tolling, however, are often subject to significant errors, such as missed vehicles or wrong vehicle classification, due to known limitations of the sensors currently being used, such as cameras and weight-based ground sensors. 

Vehicle classification errors can have significant operating cost consequences for tolling operators while leakage leads to lower revenues. With tollways processing tens of millions of vehicles a year, the cumulative impact of inaccuracies and errors creates significant administrative costs, losses and customer dissatisfaction.

Red Fox ID’s Quantum solution addresses such challenges by adding an extra layer of accuracy to the tolling system by integrating Cepton’s unique lidar technology. 

A gantry-mounted system using Quantum is therefore able to accurately detect and track vehicles, even as they switch lanes. The lidar-enabled Quantum solution captures and extracts high quality information, such as vehicle velocity, size and class. All of that information is used as input to a separate billing system to compute and apply the appropriate tolling charge. 

Quantum can also direct camera-based systems on the gantry to capture a vehicle’s front and rear plates in the event that a transponder cannot be detected. 

Through these innovations, Quantum has demonstrated a vehicle detection accuracy in all traffic conditions of 99.96%, an axle classification accuracy in all traffic conditions of 99.9% and a vehicle length accuracy of +/-5%. 

This world-class performance is enabled by Cepton’s innovative Sora-P sensor family which has been tested and proven during extended trials, including in various weather and light conditions.

The recently released Sora-P90 lidar features an industry-leading 380 Hz frame rate to deliver 1140 line scans per second, providing high-fidelity profiling of vehicles passing at highway speeds. 

Powered by Cepton’s patented, rotation-free, frictionless and mirrorless MMT, the Sora-P90 is rugged, reliable and scalable, making it ideally suited for automated tolling applications. 

In addition, with its 90° horizontal field of view, the lidar can be set up using one gantry instead of requiring two separate sensors and gantries, making overall deployment more cost effective for tolling system integrators.

With their unparalleled experienced in building innovative tolling solutions, and deep understanding of the industry trend away from ground loop-based tolling systems towards next-generation gantry-based overhead systems powered by advanced sensor technologies, Red Fox ID has been working with Cepton on multiple trials and proof of concept projects across the globe since 2019. 

This has allowed both partners to expand the application of advanced lidar intelligence for high accuracy tolling on highways and roadways in a growing list of countries, across North America, EMEA and Asia.